Sunday, September 6, 2015

Dude, Where's the Ocean? How to Catch a Wave in Dallas

I've had a life long love affair with the ocean. Unfortunately, we have been forced into a long distance relationship due to geographical inconvenience. I lived in western Pennsylvania for the first twenty something years of my life and then I moved to north Texas. Any dreams I may have had of becoming a beach bum/surfer girl were crushed under the reality of my land locked lifestyle. Until now.

Dallas may not be Surf City but it turns out, I can still have a surfing experience in the city at City Surf Deep Ellum.

City Surf is a small studio in Deep Ellum that holds what I call 'city style' surfboards. No water needed! The surfboards are balanced on BOSU balls that are secured by two bungee cords on each side. More experienced surfers can remove one of the two bungees on each side for an even more unstable experience.

We spent the first few minutes with our instructor Melanie getting acquainted with our boards. We walked forward and backwards, rocked back and forth and did some warm up air squats. I love the concept of doing your whole workout on an unstable surface. I believe that stabilization, balance and core are the foundations of fitness, building skill and strength in these areas should be a priority.

Our surfer instructor, Melanie!

It was definitely a little wobbly for me up there, but I was up for the challenge. Melanie relieved everyone's biggest fear in the beginning of the class. She said if you fall off the board, she takes it as a compliment. It just means you are pushing yourself to your limits. If you fall you are a badass. I appreciated the encouragement, because falling was a very real possibility. She said it happens all the time, even to experienced surfers. Even to her.

"If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you."

If you thought we were just playing around on a surfboard you were wrong. This workout was no joke. The class we attended was structured to give us a taste of a few of their different class styles.

CITY SURF

The first portion was a sample of their 'City Surf' class. It is described as their signature class featuring fun surf-inspired movements utilizing surfer specific muscle groups. It was really fun to lie prone on the surf board using my arms to paddle out to the waves only to jump (or in my case carefully stand) up to catch the wave. Melanie reminded us that there are no scheduled breaks, because in surfing you always have to keep moving...or else you die. ha. (But she encouraged us to listen to our bodies and rest as needed.)

Me and Mai Lyn #nobaddays

BIG KAHUNA

Then we moved into the 'Big Kahuna' class which is defined as a strength-inspired class featuring resistant bands and sand bells, great for toning and muscle development. This was definitely my favorite portion of the class. Melanie told us that this is a great class for City Surf beginners because it is less cardio-intense, the slower movements give you the opportunity to develop confidence on the board. We strung resistant bands through loops on the nose of the board that attached to our ankle leash and we worked through some lower body strength circuits. Then we looped those bands to the sides of the boards for an upper body workout. By the time the 'Big Kahuna' workout was ending, I was thinking it was probably time to start cooling down. Did I hear someone say Yoga? Nope.

BEACH BODY BOOTCAMP

We moved into the 'Beach Body Bootcamp' portion of the class which is a cardio-based class designed to make you sweat and burn calories. This is just like a traditional bootcamp but on a surfboard. Burpees? check. Sandbags? check. Kick your ass? check. This was killer. We did a ladder work out with three moves starting with six reps each working down to one rep. If you thought burpees were physically demanding on the ground, try them on a surfboard. This portion was really fun and really challenging. I was dripping sweat all over the sharks after that one.

BUDDHA BOARD YOGA

"Buddha Board' Yoga is their spin on Yoga. The regular class is a 50 minute Vinaysa flow that will take your Yoga practice to the next level. All I could think at this point was "Yay, the cool down." Not so fast. Turns out Yoga on a surfboard was its own kind of challenge. After this part of the class, I have a whole new respect for those stand up paddle board Yogis. Of course it was during Savasana (corpse pose) that I almost fell off the board, almost just rolled right off. Ha

Everyone is smiling and having fun!

Simply Fit Meals was there to provide delicious healthy refreshments to hydrate and refuel after our class.

Dallas Fitness Ambassadors rock!

City Surf in Deep Ellum was so much fun. You get a fun full body workout, a unique experience and absolutely no risk of a shark attack. Win-win.